Inaugural UEFA Nations League sees 55 teams slotted (updated)

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2018-01-25 07:41 By:

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LAUSANNE, Switzerland, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- The drawing
ceremony of the inaugural edition of UEFA Nations League was held
at SwissTech Convention Center here on Wednesday, with the European
football governing body searching for a solution to reduce the
number of "meaningless" international friendlies.

The UEFA Nations League stems from the desire of UEFA and its
55 member associations to improve the quality and standing of
national team football.

Back at a 2011 UEFA strategy meeting, the UEFA Nations League
was unanimously adopted at the 38th UEFA Congress in Astana on
March 27, 2014.

The tournament is set to replace most friendlies with
competitive matches, and enable UEFA's 55 member associations to
play against evenly matched opponents.

The teams are divided into four leagues based on their UEFA
national team coefficient rankings at the end of the group stage in
the European Qualifiers for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, and League A
consists of the 12 top-ranked teams.

In the most highly-anticipated League A, World Cup holders
Germany are placed in Group 1 with France and Netherlands. Belgium,
Switzerland and Iceland are slotted into Group 2. European
champions Portugal are in Group 3 along with Italy and Poland,
while Group 4 includes Spain, England and Croatia.

Following double headers between September and November 2018,
four group winners in League A will qualify for the tournament
finals to be held in June 2019.

The UEFA Nations League will witness a different lineup at its
next edition with promotion and relegation.

UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin expressed his excitement
about the new tournament, especially in terms of promotion and
relegation, adding that he was happy to see every team has the
chance of qualifying for major tournaments.

The most attractive part of the UEFA Nations League,
especially for minnows, is that it has been integrated into the
qualifying system for European Championships, as one of the bottom
16 teams in the UEFA national team coefficient rankings is now
guaranteed a place at the tournament.

"It's a good concept. It's new, so we have to see how it works
out, but I think it's good," said Tom Saintfiet, head coach of
Malta positioned in League D. "Now matches have been arranged for
teams at similar levels, so the concept is quite good and motivates
players to improve."

"If you play against a big nation, it's always difficult with
more defending, and now we can develop another style of playing.
It's good for our development of football, and hopefully for fans
so that they can celebrate a few times for their teams," he
added.

"For smaller teams, it's an opportunity to grow up and
improve," echoed San Marino head coach Franco Varrella. "This new
competition can help smaller teams improve and focus on the next
European Qualifiers, trying to let people know that it's not so
easy to play against San Marino and other smaller teams.

Twenty teams will secure their berths in EURO 2020 finals
through qualifiers to be held starting in March 2019, with the
remaining four tickets up for grabs for those teams benefitting
from the 2018-19 Nations League. Each league will have a play-off
path of its own, and winners of each path will qualify for EURO
2020.

If a group winner has already qualified through the European
Qualifiers, their spot will go to the next best-ranked team in
their league.

Although the UEFA Nations League will undoubtedly result in
fewer international friendlies, there will still be space on
calendar for friendlies, especially for top teams who may want to
play teams from other federations to prepare for major
tournaments.